Opinionshttps://www.justice.gov/olc/opinions
enState and Local Deputation of Federal Law Enforcement Officers During Stafford Act Deploymentshttps://www.justice.gov/olc/opinion/state-and-local-deputation-federal-law-enforcement-officers-during-stafford-act
<root>Where federal law enforcement officers have been deployed pursuant to the Stafford Act and are properly carrying out federal disaster relief in a local community, they may accept deputation under state laws that expressly authorize them to make state law arrests, where such arrests would bear a logical relationship to or advance the purposes of the Stafford Act deployment.</root>Mon, 05 Mar 2012 05:00:00 -0500ea8f232c-7d32-4553-a277-d11fc7aa0a0bWhether the General Services Administration May Proceed With an Assisted Acquisition for the Department of Veterans Affairs in Fiscal Year 2012 Using the Department’s Fiscal Year 2009/2010 Fundshttps://www.justice.gov/olc/opinion/whether-general-services-administration-may-proceed-assisted-acquisition-department
<root><p>The Department of Veterans Affairs properly obligated its FY 2009/2010 funds when it and the General Services Administration signed an interagency agreement in August 2010, and GSA may properly use those funds in FY 2012 to perform its obligations under the interagency agreement.</p>
<p>GSA may use those funds without running afoul of the requirement, developed by the Government Accountability Office, that servicing agencies acting under interagency agreements perform within a “reasonable time.”</p>
</root>Fri, 02 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -050015f9fc50-bf09-484e-a09e-e306d6a22dc9State of Residence Requirements for Firearms Transfershttps://www.justice.gov/olc/opinion/state-residence-requirements-firearms-transfers
<root><p>Section 922(b)(3) of title 18, which forbids federal firearms licensees from selling or delivering any firearm to any person who the licensee knows or has reasonable cause to believe does not reside in . . . the State in which the licensee’s place of business is located, cannot be interpreted to define “reside in . . . the State” differently for citizens and aliens.</p>
</root>Mon, 30 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500a9afecb0-8e82-45af-95fa-0e8f472e1b6bLawfulness of Recess Appointments During a Recess of the Senate Notwithstanding Periodic Pro Forma Sessionshttps://www.justice.gov/olc/opinion/lawfulness-recess-appointments-during-recess-senate-notwithstanding-periodic-pro-forma
<root><p>The convening of periodic pro forma sessions in which no business is to be conducted does not have the legal effect of interrupting an intrasession recess otherwise long enough to qualify as a “Recess of the Senate” under the Recess Appointments Clause. In this context, the President therefore has discretion to conclude that the Senate is unavailable to perform its advise-and-consent function and to exercise his power to make recess appointments.</p>
</root>Fri, 06 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500c3d5160d-7c50-4400-bd75-d35da9f1f51eWhether Postal Employees Are Entitled to Receive Service Credit, for Purposes of Their Retirement Annuity Under the Federal Employees’ Retirement System, for Periods of Employment During Which the USPS Has Not Made Its Required Employer Contributionshttps://www.justice.gov/olc/opinion/whether-postal-employees-are-entitled-receive-service-credit-purposes-their-retirement
<root><p>The Office of Personnel Management may not address the United States Postal Service’s failure to make statutorily required retirement contributions by denying its employees accrued service credit under the Federal Employees’ Retirement System during their periods of qualifying federal employment.</p>
</root>Tue, 01 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0400c1456b2b-74ad-4fdb-adbe-62a7aa6d20bdNonimmigrant Aliens and Firearms Disabilities Under the Gun Control Acthttps://www.justice.gov/olc/opinion/nonimmigrant-aliens-and-firearms-disabilities-under-gun-control-act
<root><p>The prohibition in 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(5)(B) applies only to nonimmigrant aliens who must have visas to be admitted to the United States, not to all aliens with nonimmigrant status. The text of the statute forecloses the interpretation advanced by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in an interim final rule applying section 922(g)(5)(B) to all nonimmigrant aliens.</p>
</root>Fri, 28 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -04003dc4e6f7-23b9-4c2c-9980-6a8b799c1a71Whether Proposals by Illinois and New York to Use the Internet and Out-of-State Transaction Processors to Sell Lottery Tickets to In-State Adults Violate the Wire Acthttps://www.justice.gov/olc/opinion/whether-proposals-illinois-and-new-york-use-internet-and-out-state-transaction
<root><p>Interstate transmissions of wire communications that do not relate to a “sporting event or contest” fall outside the reach of the Wire Act.</p>
<p>Because the proposed New York and Illinois lottery proposals do not involve wagering on sporting events or contests, the Wire Act does not prohibit them.</p>
</root>Tue, 20 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -040003f63537-3858-4e4e-bb61-7591dc9e74b8Unconstitutional Restrictions on Activities of the Office of Science and Technology Policy in Section 1340(a) of the Department of Defense and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011https://www.justice.gov/olc/opinion/unconstitutional-restrictions-activities-office-science-and-technology-policy-section
<root><p>Section 1340(a) of the Department of Defense and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011 is unconstitutional as applied to certain activities undertaken pursuant to the President’s constitutional authority to conduct the foreign relations of the United States.</p>
<p>Most, if not all, of the activities of the Office of Science and Technology Policy that we have been asked to consider fall within the President’s exclusive power to conduct diplomacy, and OSTP’s officers and employees therefore may engage in those activities as agents designated by the President for the conduct of diplomacy, notwithstanding section 1340(a).</p>
<p>The plain terms of section 1340(a) do not apply to OSTP’s use of funds to perform its functions as a member of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.</p>
</root>Mon, 19 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0400f6344aa8-965f-4771-b101-046855ad690cAmending the Constitution by Conventionhttps://www.justice.gov/olc/opinion/amending-constitution-convention
<root><p>Constitutional Law—Constitution—Article V—The Amending Process—The Convention Method</p></root>Tue, 16 Jan 1979 05:00:00 -0500187576e3-f6b8-4e88-8e2c-9fa47f758515Constitutionality of Legislation Extending the Term of the FBI Directorhttps://www.justice.gov/olc/opinion/constitutionality-legislation-extending-term-fbi-director
<root>It would be constitutional for Congress to enact legislation extending the term of Robert S. Mueller, III, as Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.</root>Mon, 20 Jun 2011 04:00:00 -0400a7f59909-5254-4066-8f4b-daa1d47fb5b5